Celtic Knotwork - basic principles I

Hi friends!

To understand the complexity of the intricate knots and patterns of Celtic art, we will start from the simplest stage, trying to understand the geometric logic behind those intricate designs.
As I said in the previous post, we will not delve into the existential, philosophical or religious meaning of these wonderful designs so as not to distance ourselves from our primary objective despite how interesting those topics may be.
Let's start drawing...

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Start by drawing a 4x4 grid to get sixteen rectangles or sixteen squares (4 x 4 ) as shown in the image below.

We need to find the centre of each square or rectangle, so we'll draw diagonal lines as shown here.

I have marked the centre with red dots here only to make the attention we must take to this starting point of the drawing more evident.

Joining the centre of the squares (red dots) with two lines, one vertical and one horizontal on the outermost sides of the grid and joining with a diagonal line towards the interior we obtain this design that will be the base axis of the knot that we will draw. Also, add a small stroke (about 1/4 diagonal line) on the opposite side of the long diagonal stroke, as shown in the drawing.

Here I try to show you the steps to follow when drawing the basic lines shown in the image above.

Next, define the width of the "rope" that will shape the knot. To do it trace the lines to an equal distance from the central basic line.

Here you can see the progress of the drawing.

Knot finished...Notice the interlacing.

Hatch the background...

Refine the lines if you want.

And erase all the helplines.

As you can see, our first Celtic knot is created of two interlaced "rings", painted here with two different colours to make them more evident.

Observe that we've sketched an additional pattern, which, when repeated and rotated around a central point, enables us to create the knot. It's crucial to remember this pattern.

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I wish you a very nice day!